I've had numerous wild ideas regarding all types of chassis. I don't race anything but pancakes but there are a few products that give me ideas. I like the current in-line ,no downforce concepts. I also like the Bianchi "Rattler".
Products like this get the creative juices flowing, here are a couple:

#1
Front wheel drive high end magnet car.
I know there is alot going on up front with an in-line, But if you could make this work, I think it would be revolutionary. You could make this thing so light it would float. It would also float thru the corners. Imagine a loose magnet car!

#2
Upside-down T-Jet:
With a little work and a few well place drilled holes for axles, this could be awsome. All the weight were you want it, and the larger tires would be a boon for modelers trying to fit and lower a shell.
the pickup shoe thing is a problem, but some shunts and a hinge settup, and your there.

What do you guys think? :wave:

Hi Tim,

ParkNDL (Rick) did the front wheel drive Toronado T-jet a ways back.

VJ has done a 4x4 in both T-jet and inline.

I did a 4x4 like VJ's T-jet and ran it without the rear idler IE front wheel drive to verify Ricks FrWD findings. Unfortunately the front was light. The amount of weight required to get things to hook up was prohibitive to any advantages provided by FrWD. So far my attempts at FrWD have been light, jittery and wierd. The four wheel drive proved decent with the same profile tire on all four corners, but ironically the stock motored, funtional twin screw truck chassis I did a while back out performed the hopped up 4x4.

As for the inlines, I'm not sure that you could get one to hook up. Part of the equation is that the rear drive cars keep the pickups planted when they are properly sprung. I would imagine that a fine line with front traction magnets could be figured out. Youd have to keep them strong enough to over come the inherent front wheel drive tendency to lift, but not so strong that performance would be inhibited. One of the main problems is that they would have to be right where the pickups are for maximum front axle tractive effort. The pickups and guide pin are indexed to cooperate with one another. Cramming the ring gear and additional traction magnets in this area easily exceeds the amount of space available. Trailing pick ups would be a possibility but you'd have to have a rear guide as well. Icky!

I'm just waiting for VJ to make one and prove me all wrong!

I looked at the upside down T-Jet idea briefly. The bulk of the mass would actually be raised above the belt line in the inverted position. The weight is in the arm lams, windings and magnets. Flip one over and measure it.

My solution was the rear and or front drop axle T-jet chassis. Really just a T-Jet with AFX ride height. It gives near Fray chassis stickability with normal looking wheels. I'm also not to certain about having the gear train upside down as well. It would be exposed to the elements unless covered and the idler would not sit flat on it's boss rather it would rub on the clamp.

Mark Olwang did an interesting complete lowering of the motor and gear train by scooping out the motor pit and dropping the whole works down. Look in HO World for a red Dino. Very labor intensive. I found it was much easier to just raise the axles. This moves the belly down to a feeler guage airgap without changing the whole layout of the design.

That would be some wild chassis. Inline 4 wheel drive..HHmmm
The only experiment I did was a belt driven Tjet.
Alan G did one also about a year after I did. It's all in the fun.Gettin ideas from other customizers/hackers in the world of little cars. :thumbsup:

That would be some wild chassis. Inline 4 wheel drive..HHmmm

Been there done that, with a Tjet (Xcelerator), G-plus and a Tyco 440x2....slow down the straights, but corners great!



-------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com (http://www.SlotCarJohnnies.com)

hey Gearbuster... a 4x4 inline chassi looks like this

What awsome work dude!
Why the two crowns on the back?

I also saw the Owang lowered chassis in person. Lots of work! He's also a GREAT driver.
Thanks for all the input guys.

The two crown gears is the way the speed steer chassis was set up. You can take one off, but since it doesn't interfere anything, I left it on

My own interpretation of the 4x4 chassis, done with a Tyco TCR chassis

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/3806/tyco4x41hg2.th.jpg (http://img340.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tyco4x41hg2.jpg)

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3425/tyco4x42bs0.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tyco4x42bs0.jpg)

I'm surprised nobody has come up with a limited slip rear axle. When turning, the inside wheel/tire combo always slips and breaks traction on a solid axle set up. With magnet cars it would seem preventing this could aid in cornering, especially tracks with tight turns.

RC cars have incorporated this for years. Doing something in HO scale might be tough due to the scale but even simple friction plates would be worth testing. :cool:

I'm surprised nobody has come up with a limited slip rear axle. The inside wheel/tire combo always slips and breaks traction on a solid axle set up. With magnet cars it would seem preventing this could aid in cornering, especially tracks with tight turns.

RC cars have incorporated this for years. Doing something in HO scale might be tough due to the scale but even simple friction plates would be worth testing. :cool:

Although not a limited slip a step in that direction was made not to long ago. Scott some Micro machinist dude in Germany made a proper micro diff for T-jets a while back. A truly amazing 'lil thing. Dont know what happened to it. A breif hubbub over it, But I've not seen or heard anything about it since. They were available on da Bay also!

Anyone heard squat?! Maybe Claus knows something about it?

Interesting. I guess the word I'm looking for is "differential". I had RC cars years ago that had a "ball diff" on the rear axle set up that was a really simple design.

LOL, As a lifelong card carrying gearhead, I just wanted to make the distinction so's not to embarrass myself. This diff had no biscuits! I'll be digging for it tonight. Hopefully I can find some intel! This little thing was really sumpthin.

I remember that thing. Really small stuff.

On the same subject, there is a VERY easy way to do the diff.
When we ran slip-ons for the Fray, we skinnyed up the tires a touch, then ran WD-40 on the inside of the tire. This did the limited slip trick perfectly.